Two US soldiers, two children killed in Baghdad as Karbala death toll climbs

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KARBALA (AFP) — Two US soldiers and two Iraqi children were killed in attacks in Baghdad and near the restive town of Fallujah Sunday, while the toll from a series of attacks in the Shiite holy city of Karbala a day earlier rose to 19 dead and more than 180 wounded. Gunmen ambushed a Kurdish security officer as he left his home Sunday morning in the northern city of Erbil, wounding him and killing his three guards.

Iraq's interim trade ministry, meanwhile, said it was investigating alleged corruption which could amount to $40 million by members of the US-led Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) and senior ministry officials.

In Baghdad, a bomb exploded in the Karrada district, killing two Iraqi children and a US soldier from the Second Armoured Cavalry Regiment, said Corporal Todd Pruden.

Five other troops, one Iraqi interpreter and eight Iraqi Civil Defence Corps members were wounded in the explosion and taken to hospital.

Another US soldier from the 82nd Airborne Division was killed and three others wounded Sunday afternoon in a roadside bomb attack near Fallujah, west of the capital, the US military said.

The latest deaths raised to 211 the number of US soldiers killed in action since President George W. Bush declared major hostilities in Iraq over on May 1.

The violence capped a Christmas week that saw 11 US troops killed as rebels carried out attack after attack and the US military responded with its own blistering offensive on Baghdad called Operation Iron Grip.

Insurgents plunged the holy city of Karbala into chaos Saturday with a series of car bomb, mortar and machinegun attacks on two military bases and the governor's offices, in the deadliest assault since President Saddam Hussein was captured two weeks ago.

The Karbala death toll rose to 19, with the Bulgarian defence ministry announcing Sunday the death of another soldier from wounds and Iraqi medical officials saying another five Iraqis died from their injuries.

At least 194 people were wounded in the bombardment, according to Iraqi officials and a spokesman for the multinational forces in the area.

The injured comprised 160 Iraqis and at least 34 coalition personnel of whom 26 were Bulgarians, six US soldiers and two Polish civilian coalition workers, according to Major Dezso Kiss, a Hungarian major attached to the Polish-led multinational division.

The coalition had already announced the deaths Saturday of four Bulgarians and two Thai soldiers.

The highly-coordinated attack was the bloodiest strike on the 9,000-strong multinational division since its soldiers arrived in the south-central provinces of Karbala, Najaf, Wasit, Qadissiya and Babil in September.

The coalition manned multiple checkpoints around the Shiite holy city Sunday and enforced an overnight curfew.

Iraqi and US officials said they suspected the hand of foreign fighters in the attack.

The assault coincided with the imminent arrival of the first Japanese troops to join the US-led mission and South Korea's decision this week to send 3,000 soldiers to be stationed around the northern oil-rich centre of Kirkuk.

Karbala Governor Akram Al Yasseri, who was slightly hurt in the attack on the city hall, told AFP that a suicide bomber exploded a tanker outside the Bulgarian military base after an exchange of fire.

One of the Thai soldiers died firing shots, along with the Bulgarians, that killed the bomber, a spokesman from the division said Sunday.

The base was completely decimated, with the Bulgarian soldiers moving to the Polish compound outside town Saturday, one soldier said.

Yasseri was in a meeting when a car bomb blast ripped the city hall, sending glass and cement chunks hurtling through the air.

The bomber penetrated the sealed-off area by the city hall by driving his Nissan Patrol right behind the traffic police chief's car past a checkpoint, said police colonel Karim Hashem.

The bomber's car then smashed into the traffic police chief's vehicle and exploded, killing both men, said policeman Hazem Jassem, who was wounded in the blast.

Another rebel strike saw a double car bombing on the Polish military base just outside the city on the road north to Hilla.

Separately, Dutch soldiers shot and wounded a suspected Iraqi looter when some 70 Iraqis tried to make off with goods from a container that fell off a truck in southern Iraq, the Dutch defence ministry said Sunday without providing further details.

Northern Iraq was also gripped by violence as the deputy security chief of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, the former rebel faction ruling Erbil, was wounded and his three bodyguards killed in an ambush Sunday outside his home.

In a shock development, Iraq's interim trade minister, Ali Allawi, said he was investigating alleged corruption of up to $40 million by members of the US-led CPA and senior ministry officials.

Allawi told AFP that he discovered a month ago that a contract for wooden doors worth about $80 million had been manipulated, with about a third of the money probably stolen.

"There is strong evidence ... of the implication of certain individuals, senior management who have since been asked to leave, together with — unfortunately — figures in the CPA," said Allawi.